People entering healthcare facilities, like for example hospitals or nursing homes, frequently acquire infections during the course of their stay. Such infections, which the patients did not originally possess prior to entering the healthcare facility, are termed HAIs (Healthcare-Associated Infections) and represent a serious risk to the health of the patient. In many instances, HAIs result in prolonged stay and additional treatment, and in other instances even loss of life. In addition to the trauma imposed on the patient and their family, HAIs add significant financial burden to the healthcare facility, which incurs the cost of treatment.
There is significant evidence that good hand hygiene can prevent the spread of HAIs. Washing with soap and clean water assist in preventing the transmission of germs, as does the use hand sanitizers. Results from studies have lead health organizations like the CDC (Center For Disease Control) and the WHO (World Health Organization) to release guidelines for cleaning and sanitizing hands, which include the use of alcohol based sanitizers. Placement and usage of hand sanitizing stations have thus become common throughout the healthcare industry.
Despite the advertised benefits and access to sanitizer, health care workers (HCWs) still do not consistently follow published guidelines for good hand hygiene. Numerous methods and devices have therefore been developed to monitor the hand hygiene activities of HCWs and other personnel for encouraging proper hand hygiene. Some systems, like Activity Monitoring Systems, incorporate data collection modules into hand sanitizing dispensers, which logs dispensing activity. Other monitoring systems log dispensing data and correlate the data to healthcare workers. These systems are referred to as Real Time Location Systems (RTLS).
However, monitoring systems can be costly to implement and some healthcare facilities, while convinced of the benefits of hand sanitization, are not ready to invest in the hardware needed to track compliance to hand hygiene guidelines. It would therefore be advantageous to provide hand sanitizing dispensers that could be easily retrofitted with the hardware necessary for tracking dispensers usage when the user is ready.